Harry, You Prat
by AryaTyrell
Summary: Harry, fed up with Hermione being the only one praised in class, loses it and yells at her. Can Harry and Hermione rebuild their friendship? One-shot.


**I think this is my third one-shot today. It's a new record! For me, at least. Well, R&R, you know the drill…. BTW, I'm not sure what year this takes place in. It says the Professor is Lupin, but then they say Krum left… Yeah, I don't get it either. But it's my story, so there. **

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><p>Harry glowered at Professor Lupin as he, yet again, praised Hermione for all her hard work in Defense Against the Dark Arts and not him. It was the same story every day. All Professor Lupin seemed to care about was telling Hermione how great she was without even bothering to throw him the odd compliment. It wasn't just Defense Against the Dark Arts, either- it was in all the classes he had with her. Hermione would always just stand there, smiling like a moron, and it was that happy face that was putting Harry right over the edge. His hands clenched as Professor Lupin reviewed the procedures for <em>Expelliarmus. <em>Why did Professor Lupin only care about her? Okay, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but it irritated Harry that Hermione kept on getting all the glory, despite Harry's hard work. He was sick of it.

"Okay, everyone," Professor Lupin clapped his hands. "Let's all pair up, and I'd like you to practice Disarming each other. Disarm _only,_" he added, eyeing Malfoy beadily. "Bonus points if you can remember how to deflect _Expelliarmus._ Begin!" Soon the classroom was filled with cries of "_Expelliarmus!_" and jets of red light were flashing everywhere. Professor Lupin walked around the room, critiquing and commenting on his students' performance.

Harry faced Hermione, his wand held up at the ready. "_Expelliarmus!_" Hermione yelped, and Harry immediately reacted.

"_Protego!_" he yelled, and the bubble-like shield erupted in between them, flinging the jinx back at Hermione. Her wand flew out her hand, and Harry caught it.

"Hermione, excellent attempt at Disarming Harry," Lupin commented as he walked by.

"Really? Because I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes, nice work."

"I guess he likes me now!" Hermione grinned.

Click. Boom. Snap. Harry whirled on Hermione, absolutely furious. Hermione took a step away from his harsh glare, not sure what was coming. Harry ignored her confused look and closed the gap in between them. "You know what, Hermione? I am just _so _sick of your narcissistic attitude! How can your ego even fit in this room? You're just so wrapped up in 'Hermione World' where you're just the greatest thing that's ever happened." Somewhere in the back of his mind, Harry knew he was overreacting, he knew knew he needed to reign in his temper- but the front of his mind didn't seem to care. He gave Hermione a small shove, and the smaller girl stumbled back to the wall behind her. Some pairs around them were staring curiously at them.

"You just think you're perfect, isn't that right? Right, because I hear you talking about it _all the time_. Well, I for one don't need you bragging about something you're not." Harry knew he should pull back, he should let it go, but things had gotten so pent up, and he was just so _angry_. He shoved Hermione a little harder, and watched as his friend fell to the ground. She immediately grabbed her wrist, she must have fallen on it, eyes never leaving Harry.

"Here's what I see," Harry continued, resisting the dull urge telling him to bite his tongue. "I see a lousy, nerdy, know-it-all, with only two, scratch that, _one _friend in the whole wide world. I see nothing but a single _loser_ with no life, just grades, and, honestly, not even _that_ great ones either. For something you're supposed to be perfect in, you're really not." Harry knew he hit a soft spot. Hermione worked really hard at her grades, and she was self-conscious about how much time she spent on them. He watched as Hermione's eyes welled with tears, and he watched as the brunette girl out a small sob at the end of his rant. She scampered away from Harry's harsh stare, still clutching her wrist, and ran out of the classroom.

By this stage, the whole room had gone deathly silent. Harry threw up his arms as if to say, _What? What are you looking at?_ Harry felt the floods of his conscience come to full force a little late. He turned around to see Professor Lupin and Ron gaping at him.

"I'll take care of this," Ron told Professor Lupin, and led Harry out of the room, their footsteps echoing in the silent room.

"What is your _problem_?" Ron asked, seemingly horrified.

"I don't know," Harry lied automatically, but the look in Ron's eyes made him tell the truth. "Everyone thinks Hermione does such a great job, Lupin never says anything to us! You must have noticed!'

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, _duh!_" he yelled. Seeing Harry's confused expression, he pressed on. "A month ago we talked to all her teachers saying we wanted them to be a little nicer to Hermione."

Harry was still lost. "What in the name of Merlin's saggy Y fronts are you talking about?"

"Hermione's always had no self-confidence, and you know that, so it makes no sense why you were telling her she had a big ego. You can be so dumb sometimes," Ron was clearly angry. "Anyway, when Krum left she was feeling really bad about herself, and Snape _yelling_ at her all the time and things like that wasn't really helping. So one day Hermione was really upset about the whole thing, so we went to all her teachers to try to boost her self-esteem a little bit."

"Hang on. Where was I during all of this?" Harry asked, surprised at the secret they'd been keeping from him.

"She was embarrassed. She didn't want to tell you, because you were doing such a good job. She didn't want you to see she was falling to pieces over some guy while you're supposed to be fighting Voldemort." Ron talked very quickly, almost as fast as Hermione, but Harry got the message. Harry fought the urge to write _Prat _on his forehead.

"Oh, gosh… what do I do now?" Harry asked, panicking.

"I'd talk to her," Ron advised. Harry decided it was a pretty good idea- although, it wouldn't be talking. It would be more like begging for forgiveness.

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><p>Harry tore into the Common Room and raced up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. He jiggled the doorknob- locked, of course. He considered <em>Alohomora <em>but then remembered what happened when he'd tried to get in the girls' dormitories. Praying the stairs wouldn't fall out again beneath him, he said anyway: "Hermione, open up! Please? I'm really sorry!" he pressed his ear to the door, but he didn't hear anything. "Hermione!"

"Come in," the muffled response came. Harry was so surprised he took a step back. Boys weren't allowed in the girls' dormitories. He slowly turned the knob, which was suddenly unlocked. He poked his head inside, bracing himself for some sort of alarm- but nothing came. "Hermione?"

At first all Harry saw were empty four-posters, neatly made by the house-elves that morning. Then he spotted Hermione on her comforter, clutching her pink stuffed rabbit, which she'd named Ophelia. Harry was glad to find his friend in one piece, but then he noticed the tears streaking her face. "Aw, Hermione, I'm an idiot," he said, coming in.

Hermione didn't answer for a few minutes. When she did, her voice was cracking and hoarse. "It's okay. I'm not mad. Just… sorry." Hermione buried her face in her pillow, not wanting to look at Harry. That was fine with Harry, because he didn't want to see the guilt and hurt pooling in her eyes. He wrung his hands together, and sat on the edge of her bed. Hermione immediately flinched away, and Harry's heart dropped.

"But Hermione, I'm the one who's messed up, not you," Harry said, picking at a stray thread on Hermione's scarlet red comforter.

"No," she said. "I was being stupid and full of it. I should have buried myself deeper in my books instead of trying to get in the spotlight so I could get friends." She buried her face deeper in her pillow, and Harry heard the cracking, guilty sobs of his friend. That hurt the most- Hermione actually believed what he told her.

"Hermione, you can't think that way. You're the humblest, smartest person I know. And don't think for a second you're not." Hermione peeped out from her position on the pillow, and Harry took this as a cue to keep going. "You're my best friend, and I don't want anything to change that. And you're not a nerd… being smart's a good thing. You don't have one friend- who have two, and that includes me." He wrapped up Hermione in a big hug, and the brunette buried her face in his broad shoulder, happy she'd been forgiven.

Oh, yeah. Harry was going to feel guilty about this for months.

"And Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"How am I in here when boys are 'less trustworthy'?"

She giggled. "Oh, it's just a charm. A girl from the inside has to invite a boy in. Last time no one invited you in, that's why the staircase fell out from beneath you."

For the next few weeks, Harry went out of his way to do everything he could for Hermione. They both felt extremely awkward about the whole thing, which just made Harry feel worse. Soon, however, things went back to normal, and they were best friends forever more.

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><p><strong>I hope I didn't make Harry look like the big bad guy… not my intention, believe me! <strong>


End file.
